Jon Glaser Talks Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter

Written by Laura Dengrove & Al Mannarino

Back in October, Pop-Break attended the annual New York Comic Con and between all the superhero related panels and cosplay, one upcoming series being promoted at the con caught our attention by the title alone. Adult Swim has always delivered insanely original programming (ex. Too Many Cooks, Robot Chicken, etc.), but the Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter sounded like their strangest project to date.

The strangest aspect about the show? It started out as just a ridiculous joke from comedian Jon Glaser (known to mass audiences as “Laird” on Girls but he’s also been a part of Parks and Recreation, Inside Amy Schumer, Trainwreck). We spoke with Glaser about the creation of the show, it’s spin-off comic book, and more.

You having a good show?

So far so good. We made a comic book.

That looks so cool!

It’s soooo good.

Have you ever imagined yourself on the cover of a comic book?

Never! This is one of the coolest thing ever, almost as exciting as the show.

Do you have a favorite comic?

My favorite comic is “Flaming Carrot”…if anyone knows that one?

Yeah that’s in the Mystery Men?

Yea, it’s from Dark Horse Comics. I’ve never really been a huge superhero comic collector, I mean I like them and they are really cool, but I like the funnier ones. But even getting to do this, really I am so excited about it. It looks stunning, the comic book I’m part of, and that’s really how my day has been going. We started off with the signing, and it was thrilling to be part of all of this.

That’s great, but back to the actual show (laughs)?

Yes (laughs) the show.

What are you most excited about for the actual show?

For me, I’m pretty excited that it is getting made. I did press thing on Jimmy Fallon for another show I did called Delocated, also on Adult Swim, and I just wanted to do something dumb for my own amusement really, something fun to do for the segment. So I took some clothes that I own, and I did a neon yellow hoodie and a knit cap from American Apparel paired off with Coors light sweat pants which I just happened to own. I owned this stuff for comedy bits that I would do for these live shows, and I just went on the show and said, “I’m really sad Delocated is ending, but I’m super excited for my new show ‘Neon Joe Werewolf Hunter.’ I’m dressed as the character right now and that’s all we really have at the moment, but we’re excited to figure it out.” It was 100% a joke, and it was not real but I treated it like it was real, however I thought everyone knew I was just joking. I did kind of have a feeling that even though Adult Swim knew it was a joke, they would say we know it’s a joke but that is kind of a good idea, could we make it a show? And that’s pretty much what happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N74KRUWXlrM

We talked about it and they told me to write up a pilot for it and I was just like, “this is great!” but there was no idea for this show, it wasn’t a passion project, I wasn’t always saying, “Hey, I wanna make a werewolf show,” it just all started out from a joke. I love though that this is where that show came from, and that it all just had to get figured out from this dumb joke, its one of the things I’m most excited about. I’m really happy with the show, I think its really good, really funny, sometimes dramatic, looks beautiful, show really great. Much more cinematic than Delocated. The cast is great, everyone is funny and great actors, everyone is just really good and I’m super happy with the show.

What about you? How has it been doing this different project for Adult Swim?

It’s been great getting to do this new show for Adult Swim and to get to do things that are just extremely different. Delocated was a fake reality show, and this new show was very cinematic and different, playing very dramatically yet funny at the same time.

Is this your subtle attempt to be the new Buffy?

(Laughs) No, there was no attempt for anything really except to make a dumb joke into a functioning show. Its super cool. If it becomes something like that though, I think it would be great.